Machining data display system

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a machining data display system for displaying data at a display of a numerical control apparatus (CNC) while a machining operation is being carried out, wherein machining data (11) to (14) specified by a machining program are selected from machining data registered in advance and displayed at the display (10). With this arrangement, machining data actually required is displayed and machining conditions are correctly monitored.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a machining data display system fordisplaying data at a display of a numerical control apparatus (CNC)while a machining operation is being carried out, and more specifically,to a machining data display system by which machining data isselectively displayed.

BACKGROUND ART

A numerical control apparatus (CNC) is linked to a machine tool andconstitutes a numerically controlled machine tool (NC machine tool), bywhich a complex curve or curved surface can be machined in an automaticoperation mode by preprogramming a machining process. Nevertheless, themachining conditions must be constantly monitored, since an error in themachining program, damage to a tool or the like may occur even in theautomatic operation. For this purpose, there is conventionally employeda machining data display system by which specific data is displayed at adisplay of a numerical control apparatus, to notify an operator ofmachining conditions. The content of the data displayed by thisconventional machining data display system, however, is only the minimumdata necessary for the control of a machine tool (positional data, feedspeed, r.p.m. of a spindle, T code etc.) and the amount of data that canbe displayed in addition to the above is limited.

Nevertheless, a wide variety of machine tools are coupled with anumerical control apparatus, and each machine tool has differentspecifications, machining data displayed at a display must conform withthe specifications of the machine tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present inventionis to provide a machining data display system capable of selectivelydisplaying machining data inherent to a machine tool.

To solve the above problem, in accordance with the present invention,there is provided a machining data display system for displaying data ata display of a numerical control apparatus (CNC) while a machiningoperation is being carried out, the system comprising selectingmachining data specified by a machining program from machining dataregistered in advance, and displaying the selected machining data at thedisplay.

Namely, arbitrary machining data is registered in advance and themachining is carried out while each one block of a machining program isdecoded and it is determined whether a command to display machining datahas been output. When a command to display the machining data has beenoutput, the stored machining data is displayed at a display inaccordance with the output command.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a display of a machining data display system of an embodimentaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence between machining dataand system variables of an embodiment according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a machining program of an embodiment according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a machining data definition command ofan embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process of a numerical control apparatus ofan embodiment according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a hardware arrangement of a numerical controlapparatus as an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to drawings.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a machining data definition command ofa machining data display system of an embodiment of the presentinvention, wherein 20 designates a machining program; 30 designates adefinition command for defining names of machining data, up to fournames of the machining data being defined by this command, as describedbelow; 31 designates a numeral value which is the definition command forthe name of the machining data; 32 to 35 designate names of themachining data to be defined. Although the names of the machining datacan be arbitrarily set, in this embodiment, 32 defines "tool number", 33defines "tool name", 34 defines "machining process" and 35 defines"message".

Numerals 40a to 40d designate definition commands for defining a displaycharacter train of the machining data. These definition commands will bedescribed in detail with reference to the definition command 40a as anexample. Numeral 41a designates a numeral value indicating that it is adefinition command for a display character train, and 42a designates anumeral value indicating a name of the machining data corresponding to afigure, this numeral value being based on the sequence of the names ofthe machining data defined by the definition command 30. Therefore, "1"indicates that the definition command 40a is a command to define themachining data of the "tool number" 32. Numerals 43a to 58a designate acharacter train to be actually displayed as machining data, up tosixteen display character trains of the machining data being defined.Note that the characters used as the display character train includealphanumeric characters, KANJI, HIRAGANA and KATAKANA. Here, "3" isdefined at 43a, "10" is defined at 44b, . . . "50" is defined at 58a asa character train of the machining data classified as "tool number" 32.

Similarly, 40b designates a definition command for a tool name, 40cdesignates a definition command for a machining process, and 40ddesignates a definition command for other messages. In addition,"drilling", "rough machining" and "coolant" are defined at the firstposition in the display character train for each item.

The names of the machining data and the display character trains foreach name defined as described above are read in a numerical controlapparatus by a machining program. The numerical control apparatus storesthe read names of the machining data in correspondence with systemvariables. Therefore, only a numeral value which selects a systemvariable and a display character train corresponding to the name of themachining data need be instructed. A numeral value selecting a displaycharacter train represents a sequence of each display character traindefined in the definition command of the display character train. Morespecifically, in the case of the definition command 40a, "3" of 43arepresents "1" and "10" of 44a represents "2".

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence between the machiningdata and the system variables, wherein "#6971 to #6974" represent thesystem variables. In the present invention, "#6971" is a system variablecorresponding to "tool number" based on the definition command of thenames of the machining data. Similarly, "#6972", "#6973" and "#6974:"are system variables corresponding to "tool name", "machining process"and "message", respectively.

FIG. 3 is a machining program of an embodiment of the present invention,wherein 20 designates a machining program, 21 to 24 designate amachining data display command, and 25 and 26 designate a machiningexecution command. To describe the content of the machining command 21,"#6971" of 21a is a command indicating an item of "tool number", and "1"of 21b is a numeral value for selecting a display character train asdescribed above, and thus it is indicated that this is a display commandfor "tool number" 3. Note that, when the numeral value for selecting adisplay character train is set to "0", it functions to delete machiningdata from a display.

Similarly, machining data commands 22, 23 and 24 indicate "drilling","rough machining" and "coolant", respectively.

FIG. 1 shows a display by a display unit when the blocks in the range ofthe machining data command 21--machining execution command 26 of themachining program in FIG. 3 are executed, wherein 10 designates thedisplay in which "3" is displayed at the location of 11, and thus anoperator can confirm that the tool number of a tool used at present is3. Similarly, "drilling", "rough machining" and "coolant" are displayedat the locations of 12, 13 and 14, respectively and thus can beconfirmed by the operator.

Returning to FIG. 3, commands 27 and 28 will be described. Since themachining data command 27 has a numeral value for selecting a displaycharacter train set to "0", it is used to delete items of machining datadisplayed corresponding to the system variable "6974" from the display.Therefore, when the command of this block is executed, the indication of"coolant", hitherto displayed, is deleted from the display.

The machining data command 28 enables the indication of "finishmachining" to be displayed at the display in place of the indication of"rough machining" of the machining data corresponding to the systemvariable "#6973".

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process of a numerical control apparatus in amachining data display system of an embodiment of the present invention,wherein numerals prefixed with an "S" indicate the numbers of the stepsof the process. One command block of a machining program is read at stepS1 and then it is determined whether the machining program has ended atS2. When the machining program has ended, the flow is ended, and whenthe program has not ended, the flow goes to step S3, at which it isdetermined whether the read command is a machining data display command.When the read command is a machining data display command, the flow goesto step S5, and when the read command is a command other than themachining command display command, the flow goes to S4. At step S4, ausual process is executed according to the read command, and at step S5,specified machining data is displayed at the display.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a hardware arrangement of a numerical controlapparatus as a machining data display system according to the presentinvention, wherein 61 designates a processor for globally controllingthe system; 62 designates a ROM in which a control program forcontrolling the numerical control apparatus is stored; 63 designates aRAM; 64 designates a display unit at which machining data is displayed;65 designates a non-volatile memory in which a machining program isstored; 66 designates an operator console; and 67 designates a machinetool.

Note that, although the displayed content of the machining data isdefined by the machining data defining command of the machining programin the present invention, it is possible to prestore a plurality ofmachining data in the numerical control apparatus by a key input througha CRT/MDI unit, select the machining data based on a machining datadisplay command of the machining program, and display that data at adisplay in addition to the above.

Further, it is also possible to define machining data by the machiningprogram regardless of the machining data prestored as described above,and select and display necessary data from both machining data by themachining data display command.

As described above, according to the present invention, since machiningdata specified by the machining program is selected from machining dataregistered in advance and displayed at a display, actual machiningconditions can be correctly monitored, and further, the machiningprogram can be readily checked.

We claim:
 1. A machining data display method for displaying data at adisplay of a numerical control apparatus (CNC) while a machiningoperation is being carried out, comprising the steps of:defining a setof names of machining data to be displayed; defining definitioncommands, each being associated with a selected one of the names ofmachining programs, and including a display train; selecting one of thenames of machining data; selecting one of the definition commands; anddisplaying said selected machining data at the display.
 2. A machiningdata display method according to claim 1, further comprising the step ofprestoring the machining data by said machining program.
 3. A machiningdata display method according to claim 1, further comprising the step ofprestoring the machining data by a key input through a CRT/MDI unit. 4.A machining data display method according to claim 1, further comprisingthe step of prestoring the machining data by said machining program andsaid key input through a CRT/MDI unit.